


The Years Fly By

by ReedRead0503



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Allison Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Childhood, Dysfunctional Family, Growing Up, Kid Fic, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Neglect, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, The Nannies, They all need a hug, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-02-07 13:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18621688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReedRead0503/pseuds/ReedRead0503
Summary: A chronicle of the first few years of The Umbrella Academy's lives





	1. Zero to Twelve Months

It’s more convenient if the infants are all in one place. Unfortunately, the pink beings are useless as they are now, Sir Reginald wants little to do with them. So the man puts out an ad. Nannies wanted for seven peculiar children.

 

The man has been on earth for years but he still struggles to tell the youths of the planet's intelligent life apart. They all are shaped the same and act in the same manner. It would be useful to his tests and research if he could tell them apart. So he devised a system. The children were to be numbered, 1 through seven in no particular order. Everything a child owned would have that number on it. A simple way to organize his results, and their things.

 

He had meant to name them, but he was simply too busy to do so. By the time the nannies came, he hadn’t yet come up with any, so just continued to refer to them by numbers. He could tell the young ladies rearing his new wards weren’t happy with it, but the sum of their salary let them look the other way.

 

Of course, with such an extraordinary birth, the children themselves were extraordinary beings. When his nanny stopped reading a book, Number Six spawned some sort of appendage from his chest, which writhed in rage. He had been hard pressed to get the girl to stay on staff at that. From that point on, the babe’s skin would pulse, as if something was pushing at it to get out. From five months and on, Six was extraordinary.

 

Number Four was prone to staring at nothingness, and in stray moments when no held by his own caretaker, to float into the air where he would bob gently. Thankfully, the nanny dealt well with the non-offensive abilities. He was special from the moment he entered the man’s care.

 

Although mentally advanced, Number Five lagged behind the physical milestones of his siblings. Rather than learn to walk or crawl to a destination, the infant would disappear with a blue flash, before reappearing at a certain point. His nanny had yet to figure out means to coax the child into learning his own body. He was extraordinary at 8 months.

 

One of the two girls, Number Three loved to babble. So far it was mostly gibberish or sounds, but at times unnatural things happened after her ‘talking’. At one time, Three’s nanny had rushed into his study carrying a giggling girl, moaning about her own previously-brown, currently blue hair. She was four months of age and she too was extraordinary.

 

Number Two was a fairly happy child but often gave his own watchers a heart attack. His first nanny was fired for negligence after she left the child unattended in a bath for more than a few moments. While she screams at finding the baby completely submerged, the infant in question was fine and blew a bubble under the water. This event marked him as special at two months.

 

The strongest of them all, Number One is a serious baby. He seldom smiles, and once he manages to grasp something for the first time, delights in his own shows of strength. The first time he wrapped his tiny fist around a nanny’s finger, with minimal effort he crushed the offending object. The index finger was mangled to the point there was no saving it, and it had to be amputated. She and her family had to be handsomely paid off to keep the affair quiet, and the man fitted her with a state of the art robotic replacement. His number was checked off as extraordinary at three months.

 

While the others caused hundreds of dollars of damage, Number Seven’s cost has already soared well into the thousands. For the first month, all was well, but soon after she showed a level of ability far above her siblings. When she cries, the world cries with her. When she screams, anything surrounding her is obliterated. The first time she giggled, she caused the death of her nanny following the blinding white light emanating from her body. It was only discovered later when the infant’s hungry cry was investigated, and the ashen remains of the nanny were found. A suitable replacement was found, warned and the nanny was reported as missing. She, in Sir Hargreeves mind, had the greatest potential.


	2. Twelve to Twenty-Four Months

At the time, each child began to have more fine and gross motor skills, training began. Disguised as play to the nannies, it was vital to Sir Reginald that the children develop as soon as biologically possible. He had a mission to complete, and the children had a job to do. The sooner they learnt control the better. 

 

So far, all children except Number Two and Number Four had been responsible for the death of at least one caretaker. Number One crushed the air out of one nanny in a hug, Number Three had ‘babbled’ a nanny into jumping from a balcony, Number Five had forced a caretaker into a dangerous situation to rescue him, Number Six had torn his to shreds one night, and Number Seven has killed nine separate nannies. Some by vaporization, or driving the life out of them, and others by from force of impact after a large wave of energy hit them. 

 

While finding women desperate for work was no large chore, and finding women the world wouldn’t notice missing for Number seven was only slightly more laborious, the children needed to learn control. The public would frown if his children accidentally killed a civilian in the future after all. 

 

When at last, Five took his first steps at a year and a half of age, training began to become a daily routine. The children were placed in the communal play space, where they were encouraged to roll around small balls, stack blocks in towers, scribble on paper, talk, and walk. Those who could do so were encouraged to run. 

 

Although combat training would not begin for another few years, they were exposed to informative posters detailing in a childlike manner, things like “Parry”, “Block”, ‘Counter’, “Punch” and ‘Stab’. Sir Reginald was satisfied when Number Two’s first word was ‘Stab’, and Number Seven’s was ‘Focus’. He was decidedly less so when Number Four’s first word was one of a vulgar nature.  Number Three’s babbling slowly began to incorporate recognizable words, and her nanny became more and more frazzled as time went on. The only annoying feature was the Nannies teaching each of the children to refer to him as ‘Dad’. 

 

On the side of the extraordinary, the toddler’s abilities were expanding at an appropriate scale. Number One could lift near about any piece of furniture in the house, and had done so when looking for a favorite toy of his. The downside to his ability was the extra supervision required when he was training with the others. Each of the other six had at one point or another sustained one sort of injury from the boy. 

 

Number Two was nearabout harmless but displayed an extraordinary aim. If not for this secondary ability, Sir Reginald would have considered benching the toddler from his future strike force. But as it stands, this talent could likely be honed into a useful one. Every day, his nanny was required to have him train for an hour, throwing a variety of objects. Once he displayed competence with the darts, he would move onto blunt knives. 

 

Number Three’s ability was difficult to say if it improved or not, but her nanny seemed to do more and more inexplicable actions. For example, her nanny has been prone to giving the girl an extra dessert, delaying bedtime, and forgetting to discipline the young girl for any infractions. In all, whatever the girl wished for, seemed to come true. New toys often were found in her room, with no explanation of how they got there beyond her just wanting them. 

 

Number Four was suffering on the other hand. Unlike most of the others, he seemed to lack the ability to naturally suppress or stop using his ability. More often than not, his nanny could be found comforting him and attempting to soothe his tears. The boy slept little, claiming his dreams were haunted by dark figures. On occasion, his caregiver had reported strange marks and bruises on his body, often in the shape of hands, as if he had been brutally grabbed. 

 

Number Five was a handful, seeming to rejoice in pushing himself further, and further. One theory of Sir Reginald's was proven correct when, after jumping the boy disappeared for a week. After eight days had passed, the toddler reappeared in the same location he had left from, looking the same as he had when he had left, from his clothes to the way his hair had been styled. Number Five could, in fact, time travel, albeit it seemed to be without much control. 

 

Number Six’s own interdimensional summoning grew more common with each passing day. Whenever the boy felt frightened, angry, or excited, demonic looking appendages would spout from his chest. After each occasion, the boy was exhausted, and could not summon them again for at least two days, while he recovered. His nanny was under strict orders to provoke large emotional outbursts in the boy, in hopes of him gaining more control, and endurance with his ability. 

 

Number Seven. His little monster. While the others showed progress, it was nothing in the face of her. Looking past her large list of casualties, the girl showed more abilities than vaporizing her caretakers. Very little control over her abilities, but a large spectrum of things she can do. When miserable or happy, the weather around the house reacts, with either pouring rain or sunny days and clear skies. She has been found to float gently above the ground and cause extreme growth in plants. He has seen her glowing in the night with light, and bend solid metal without ever touching it. She was limitless, and his secret weapon. She would be the best of his academy, and he could crush those who would do the world harm with her at his side. 


	3. Twenty-Four Months to Thirty-Six Months

At this point, it was amusing to see how many nannies the children could go through in a month. Often times the nanny herself would resign over her inability to cope with the unnatural abilities displayed by the children, but at times it would be due to Sir Reginald having to fire them for not complying to his instructions. Occasionally, usually at the hands of Number Six, or more often Number Seven, he would have to order Pogo to dispose of mutilated remains.

 

It was a relief, that the children now possessed enough intelligence to begin lessons with both him and Pogo. While Pogo kept the children on satisfactory academic progress, Sir Reginald managed the training and harnessing of their unique abilities and physical states. For now, the children were entertained by his efforts and pushed themselves past their limits in order to meet his expectations. Some met standards better than others.

 

For all her great level of power, Number Seven was of fragile health and body. She was often the victim of infections of her ear canal and serious illness. Not to mention she was at a size much smaller than her siblings. It was vexing, to say the least. She lagged behind during training, unable to run as far, or as fast as the others. He took no pleasure in issuing punishment to the child, but Number Seven showed no improvement in control of her seemingly limitless abilities or physical prowess.

 

As she aged, her emotional range increased along with the spectrum of new abilities she displays. While not consistently used, she has shown adept at the healing of major and minor injuries of herself and others and can generate energy fields of varying degrees of use. Once, she created what can only be described as a force field barring every living soul from her room when upset after the repercussions of failing to meet expectations during a training session. He must research into better means to control her emotions. His current method is unsuccessful.

 

Numbers One, Two, Three, Five and Six are improving at a steady pace, and control increases daily. Less furniture and lives are sacrificed to their occasional rampages. Unfortunately, Number Four, unlike the rest seem to be limiting his own abilities. While initially showing skill with telekinesis and levitation, the skill has all but disappeared. It is disappointing, but it appears linked to the emotional distress the boy often displays. He must rid the boy of his fear of the dead if Number Four is ever to reach his full potential. Exposure will likely provide a decent chance at lessening the horror that the dead are fond of.

 

On the social side of development, the children are beginning to form attachments to each other, as well as to both himself and their individual nannies. In their free time, they will often seek each other out, and even have preferences of a favorite sibling.

 

Number One often liked spending time with Number Five, which is strange considering they remain unaware of their unique connection. He managed to keep their biological relation a secret from all of the house’s residents, even Pogo. But, when released from his studies, Number One will rush to Number Five’s side, much to the other boy’s displeasure. Number One could certainly not keep up with Number Five in terms of sheer intelligence or mental capacity, but perhaps it was a shared interest that kept Number One close to the other.

 

In a display the young logic of a human, Number One has connected Number Five’s ability to the same location he hopes to one day visit. Space. Sir Reginald must admit that this foolish daydream of Number One is both endearing and an easily manipulable asset. By promising him that one day will he go to space, as Sir Reginald knows he will one day do, and gifting him toys and activities related to space, motivation for improvement is no struggle. In this way, Number One’s skills increase at a level pace. If not for the fact that the toddler's ability was standard, and little unique usage, he would say the boy was a great asset. While the level of power being displayed was exponential for the others, excepting Number Four, the growth in strength was a linear one of Number One. It would be a waste of time to spend time training his ability which would soon reach its highest potential.

 

Other attachments showed between Number Six, Seven and Four, all victims of frightening and unexpected use of powers. While they weren’t always each other's first choice during designated free time, in times of distress, usually the child sought out one of the other two members of the trio for comfort. Number Six, in particular, showed an extreme degree of attachment to his adoptive siblings. Extended separation from his siblings would result in the summoning of the boy’s otherworldly creatures which would tear apart his surroundings. It was not uncommon to see the toddler covered in the crimson blood belonging to his caretakers. If not for Number Seven’s relentless slaughtering of her caretakers, Number Six would possess the highest death rate.

 

However, unlike Number Seven, the young boy’s method was messier and resulted in tearing limbs from torsos. While tentacle appendages were the most common sight to spawn from his chest, demonic looking claws, heads, and spikes have appeared as well. Oddly enough, while the summoned creatures had no qualms about attacking Number Six’s caregivers, Pogo or Sir Reginald, it would act affectionately towards the other young children. He recorded an instance when Number Six made Number Seven smile, and by result causes the young girl to splinter every wooden piece of furniture in the room, when a tentacle emerged from his abdominal cavity and caressed her cheek. After Number One, Number Six was the easiest to motivate by threatening his ability to see his siblings.

 

Number Three showed a love of all her siblings and was content to be with any one of them. She would use her own ability on her siblings daily, to coerce them into playing with her, completing school work for her, or to sway a game’s outcome to her favor. While he despised her spoiled attitude, Sir Reginald had to reward her ingenious use of her ability. He found that she was better able to infuse her words with her ability when focusing on keywords. Any word could have done, but the Academy would be best served by a dramatic catchphrase the media could easily latch onto. Deciding on that catchphrase and focus word was difficult. He tried out some like, ‘I made a wish..’, ‘It happened so…’, and “Once upon a time…’ but Number Three showed a preference for using “‘ heard a rumor…’ regardless of whether or not she understood what a rumor exactly was. Perhaps her future alias could include something of that type as well.

 

On Number One's unlikely companion, number Five, unexpected temporal jumps have come to a stop, and like in previous years, his special jumps have shown an expected increase. Although, while his physical form remains rooted in the present, Sir Reginald suspects his conscious undergoes temporal jumps of itself, likely during the sleep REM cycles. The reason for this theory is the nightmares that Number Five suffers from, as well as his knowledge of future events before they happen. The first occasion this was evident, was before a surprise drill was conducted in which each child was randomly attacked by a hired mercenary during the day. When it was Number Five’s turn, the child managed to avoid encountering the man at all in the first place.

 

The latest occasion was reported to Sir Reginald after the child complained to his nanny of a nightmare in which the world was on fire, after an unleashing of terrible energy upon the world. It was oddly specific, and Sir Reginald knew that Number Five caught a glimpse into the apocalyptic future that the academy was formed to prevent. It wouldn’t do for this information to be introduced to early on, so a security measure to stop such dreams from occurring would be necessary. It was for this reason that he began to observe the slumber of the children. While he simply recorded the brainwaves of the other six children, for Number Five he also introduced the measure of issuing light electric shocks if his brain scans indicated he was entering a temporal jump. Luckily for the monocled man, he has no need for sleep unlike all other occupants of the Academy, so he could devote his night to this endeavor.

 

With Number Two, it was lucky that each of the children had an above average healing factor. His affinity for blades often led to injuries and accidents during training exercises. While his aim was perfect, the child’s attention was prone to wander when practicing. The result of this, when throwing his newly acquired knives, a knife would go towards his focus. Every member of the Academy has been impaled at one point or another. While rewarding excellence, such as Number Three’s grasp on her ability was necessary, as was the punishment of failure. The isolating punishment of Number Seven gave the motivation to avoid failure and avoid not meeting Sir Reginald’s justified standard of perfection. For Number Two, when he experienced failure during training, the most successful punishment has been inflicting the same damage to him.

 

As he said before, it was lucky that each child had a significant healing factor.


	4. The Fourth Year

The nannies, those that survived long enough, had been dismissed. GR4C3, or Grace as Pogo has taken to calling her, has proved more than adequate at caring for the children. Sir Reginald made her in quite a rush, so he would not be surprised if both technical and coding issues arose over the years. 

 

While, Grace had proven to be much more efficient than her human counterparts have ever been, and would be much more trustworthy at keeping quiet on what transpired in the mansion. Her body itself was self-repairing and more durable, leading to an easier time at corralling the children. 

 

 He had not originally intended to create her as a nanny for all seven children, but it did give him an easier time of things as well. No more was his important research interrupted to deal with and soothe a hysterical nanny’s complaints and tears. Now, Grace was well equipped to deal with any paranormal or supernatural situation she found herself.

He had hit a dead end with many of his training sessions. Number One seemed to have a limit he was unable to surpass, minimizing his own use for the future. His strength, while impressive, would serve better as an example to his siblings, than a real skill to develop. Perhaps Reginald should introduce him as the leader of the Academy? A fact to ponder on. In any case, the boy was given many rewards to praise him for his unwavering focus and discipline. Soon, his room was filled with many toys, as well as receiving extra food at meals as a treat. 

 

Number Two was much more impressive to train that the former but lacked a true ambition to succeed. He was soft, seeking comfort from Grace and formerly his nannies at any difficulty encountered. This would need to be trained out of him. Another irritating characteristic of the boy was his developing stutter. A public figure, as he planned for all seven to be, cannot display such a weakness. It may be beneficial to play into a rivalry that had begun developing between the ‘eldest’ and ‘second-born’ son. That could help to focus Number Two, as well as giving Number One a bigger purpose. Rewards did not occur often for the boy, punishments being a more often occurrence. Humiliation seemed effective against the boy, particularly in front of the other members of the household. His vulnerabilities usually decreased temporarily after the verbal punishments. 

 

Number Three was a wonderful participant in the training, however much he destained the spoiled brat she had become. The young girl delighted in seeing the world shape itself around her words and was eager to constantly use her abilities. He found it was necessary to manipulate the girl into ‘rumoring’ herself a few times. On one of these occasions, he positioned her in front of a mirror and forced her to repeat after him. ( I heard a rumor…. That I can never use my power on my father.) Her obedience had increased dramatically after that particular session. Rather than turning her power on him, now she instead focuses it on the only other living people in the house. Her siblings, and Pogo. Like Number One, she was often rewarded instead of punished. She had the largest room, and as many accessories as she wished for, simply for coming up with more and more ways to utilize her abilities. 

 

Number Four had lost much of his abilities. While his siblings grew stronger, Sir Reginald was forced to note that the boy’s promising abilities of telekinesis, levitation, and mild technopathy had entirely vanished. The only remaining ability, while mostly useless, terrified the boy to the point of uncontrollable tears. The dead, for lack of a better word, haunted him. He had found a potential solution for this and will test it soon. A night in the Mausoleum from the local cemetery should be enough to help hurdle Number Four over his irrational terror. That in and of itself was not meant to be a punishment, but it was more effective than previous ones. 

 

Number Five, while easily the most ambitious was a pain. He constantly questioned the monocled man, and Sir Reginald had to keep a firm grip on his temper in the boy’s presence. Luckily, the spontaneous temporal travel seemed to have stopped and the boy had no memory of such a thing ever happening. Thus it was easier to focus on the accuracy and precision of his jumps through space. In all the training sessions with the boy, had never faced a single instance of defiance. Outside of those sessions was a different story. Luckily this attitude does not seem to be contagious to his ‘siblings’. Punishment happened rarely, but the boy had no interest in rewards, so he never received any privileges. 

 

Number Six was also easy to train. The boy had an incessant need to try and please Sir Hargreeves, almost seeming to sense the man’s intense repulsion of the horror residing inside him. Hargreeves was proud in a way of him. He was killed by the man’s order, and while reluctant, was eager to do so if it seemed to improve his standing in his ‘father’s’ eye. Punishment for him was extra training, and perhaps a few well-worded jabs to the developing child’s self-esteem. This need to please Sir Hargreaves need to flourish. His reward, by request of the boy, was a gift of books. A strange choice considering his age, but likely developed out of a need to impress his academically-inclined father.

 

Lastly…. There was Number Seven. When he gazed on the girl, he felt a deep pang of disappointment. His greatest asset…. Simply wasted. The girl was too dangerous to have around, yet he could not bring himself to dispose of her. She could be useful in the future. It might be useful to one day have an atomic bomb. But, since she was simply too emotional to train, she had to be rendered obsolete. Number Three earned the right to the largest bedroom through her help with the matter. The rumor was refreshed whenever the girl heard the word ‘ordinary’ so he made sure to repeat it daily. Soon enough the rest of the academy followed suit. It would be interesting to have her around, to see how her development would be affected by the loss of her abilities. It was an important part of each child after all. It was their entire purpose in life. 


End file.
